[Editor's note: I am a kid. I don't know jack-**** about "the industry", yet I tend to talk about it a lot because I believe I can see something there. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe my thoughts won't count for **** anyway. Take this and all future Industroid-pieces with a big Atlantic ocean of salt.]


Microsoft hasn't really been nurturing the PC gaming market with the Games For Windows initiative. The Vista and DX10 supports have mostly been a bug, not a feature, and a lot of people are tired of the "constant upgrades" to play games on their PC's. So Microsoft took the key out of the ignition, threw it out of the window and said "bye, have fun, casual games whatever". My concerns are premature, perhaps. But lets recap for a moment what has happened in the last couple of months.

Their CES press conference was a joke. Nothing to announce in terms of games, and the IPTV announcements made me pretty uncomfortable. The things they showed and key words they used all pointed toward one thing: Microsoft wants to take over your house. Connectivity. Whenever. Wherever. Digital Distribution. Not today.

It all sounds very good, but part from the IPTV distribution partners that were announced, nothing was really said about their future goals for either PC or the 360. So, just to throw it in there, Microsoft will probably ride on the success the 360 had last year in 2008, only to have it replaced by the end of 2009 or 2010. From what we've seen, this is going to be the Sony year.

Games For Windows with Vista and DX10 failed in 2007. Not many people had the will or the money to make the next generation leap when they could get a console that did all that, and in some cases did it better. When consoles today are becoming more like PC's, the advantages start to blur themselves out. Big screen HD TV's that make the experience as good, if not better, as on the PC in your living room has become the new norm for hardcore gamers. When Call of Duty 4 for the 360 outsells the PC version by ridiculous numbers, that shows you where most people want their gaming experience.

But this year, in 2008, we will see fairly high-end PC's dropping in price and the 360 starting to struggle to keep up with PC's on the technical side. Look at Mass Effect. The 360 can barely handle that game. Maybe it's a developing issue, and you actually can make it work good on the system, but I doubt it. The PC port will show this and the 360 is gonna get yet another kick in the butt, on the technical side that is.

My hope for Microsoft is laying on GDC. I hope they really announce something there that will make me confident that they actually care this year about anything game related. Unfortunately, I don't think that will happen. I think we won't get a respons to Valve's Steam Works for quite some time. I don't think we will hear anything new from Microsoft regarding games in the first half of 2008.

But where does that leave Microsoft? Are they giving the keys to Valve? Are they sitting in their dungeon crunching numbers and coming up with the greatest solution ever to make PC gaming on Windows the best gaming experience you can have? Are they working on getting a Game For Microsoft-system that will materialize the connectivity we've been promised across every digital platform in our house? Maybe... The key has been thrown for this generation. Their emphasis has been and will always primarily be on the 360. Thank Gods that the world of PC's is a fracking world of ever thriving Swedish geeks (this is a huge cultural issue, USA vs. Europe, more on that in later installments), always ready to upgrade their rigs and supporting the modding scene.


PC gaming is not dead and will never die. There will always be nerds that play WoW, Dota, Starcraft and prefer their FPS' with a mouse and keyboard. And so, PC games will always be made. PC ports will always be made, and Crysis will be played years from now when people get a new rig to see if they got their money's worth of CPU's and GPU's.

Digital distribution will hit the PC market first of all, and it already has. All the copies of Crysis, Call of Duty 4 and The Orange Box that were bought digitally hasn't been accounted for. I bought The Orange Box via Steam and couldn't be happier with it. Steam is where it's at. That is the future platform for digital distribution and gaming on your PC. It's just that good. So, maybe Steam Works is a big FU to Microsoft (of course it is) and maybe Gabe Newell & Co has taken it upon themselves to "save" PC gaming. To bring it back to the respect it so desperately deserves and craves in the state that it's in right now.

Nvidia recently acquired Agiea. This is exciting because it is just what the PC market needs. Integration of technologies and a homogeneous platform. The Nvidia press released reads that the industry is heading in a heterogeneous direction with technologies, but what that really says is that "we need to start bringing it all together", thus making it a homogeneous platform. And we know who likes that idea.

As PC gaming seems to come back to Valve when I talk about this, I found this blog post quite interesting. Maybe that's where Valve is heading? Maybe they actually are saving PC gaming and taking it under its wings, and maybe Steam Works will be the first step for developers to look towards Valve instead of Microsoft for the right distribution model for the their PC game?


What I'm trying to say... is that... PC... game... nah forget it. After all, this is just random ramblings of a kid who doesn't know Jack.